The African Union has called for the immediate release of Gen Karenzi Karake, the secretary general of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS), who was arrested in London on Saturday.

An emergency meeting of the African Union Peace and Security Council that convened, yesterday, at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, strongly condemned the arrest calling it a violation of the principles of universal jurisdiction. 

Yesterday, in a show of African solidarity, Rwanda received overwhelming support from the AU Peace and Security Council, two days after it had requested the Council to convene a special meeting on the arrest of Gen Karake and its larger implications on the continent.

Addressing the meeting, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Louise Mushikiwabo, said the arrest of Gen Karake was a blatant attack on Rwanda and Africa in general.

"The absurdity of this is that those who committed the Genocide (against the Tutsi in Rwanda in 1994) and have been indicted according to principles of universal jurisdiction, many of them still today, 22 years later, live freely and roam European capitals and have the audacity to instigate judges against those who stopped the Genocide. That is the absurdity,” Mushikiwabo said.

Underscoring the bizarre nature of Gen Karake’s arrest, Minister Mushikiwabo noted that it is baffling that he was arrested after traveling to the United Kingdom on numerous occasions, further stressing that there is nothing judicial about the Spanish indictment.

 "The question to ask is; why now? What really is the sustenance of these indictments?”

Addressing a news conference following a closed session of the meeting, the minister said the AU Peace and Security Council should swiftly do everything in its power to end judicial harassment and engage in serious political dialogue to ensure that justice serves all fairly and is not used by some powers to settle political scores.

Responding to suggestions that Western justice acted independently in the arrest of Gen Karake, Mushikiwabo noted that Rwanda waiting 22 years for justice after the Genocide against the Tutsi is a glaring example.

"There are plenty of examples of the interception of politics with justice, if that was not the case, why should we Rwanda 22 years after the Genocide be begging these same so called law abiding and civilized countries to either extradite or try people who are guilty of genocide? The case of General Karenzi today is a blatant violation of anything related to justice”

The Commissioner of the AU Peace and Security Council, Amb. Smail Chergui, stated that the arrest of the Rwandan senior official should awaken the continent to stand up and support the AU’s engagement on the matter because it risks violating the integrity and sovereignty of African states.

In a show of solidarity from the other East African countries, Rwanda’s delegation was accompanied to the AU Peace and Security Commission meeting by the Ugandan state minister for Foreign affairs Okello Oryem and Kenya’s Attorney-General Githu Muigai.